740.24112A/8–1544: Airgram
The Chargé in Bolivia ( McLaughlin ) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 21—8 a.m.]
A–349. Embassy officials have discussed with Russell the following questions raised in the record of action of the May 22, 1944 meeting of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Proclaimed List, and it has been agreed to make the following suggestions to the Committee:
The first question relates to the requirement of clearance by prospective purchasers of Proclaimed List businesses with Embassy and Committee. The Embassy has made every effort to make it known [Page 528] to business communities in Bolivia that before purchasing properties on the Proclaimed List, they should consult with the Embassy. There have been only four or five cases where the purchaser has not consulted with the Embassy and these have been of a minor nature. With few exceptions the Embassy refers all questions of this nature to the Department for clearance by the Interdepartmental Committee. Occasionally, however, there are special circumstances which, the Embassy believes, makes reasonable a request by the prospective purchaser that a decision be made almost immediately. In these exceptional cases, if there appears to be no doubt about the desirability of the proposed purchase, the Embassy has given its approval. Unless the Embassy is informed to the contrary from the Department, it will continue to follow this procedure.
The question was also raised in the May 22 record of action with respect to the requirement of the blocking of the funds paid by the blocking laws of the Bolivian Government. The record of the handling by the Bolivian Government of the blocked funds arising from the sales of Proclaimed List firms has been very satisfactory. No instance has come to the attention of the Embassy where proceeds of such sales which were blocked by the Bolivian Government have been released in any manner which the Embassy would not approve. The Embassy has within the past two days requested the Banco Central de Bolivia to give its assurance that no blocked funds of any kind would be released for purposes other than living expenses without prior consultation with the Embassy. If such an agreement is forthcoming, it is believed that it would be better to rely on Bolivian Government blocking than to jeopardize current negotiations with the Bolivian Government relating to the expropriation of spearhead firms by the irritation which would inevitably come from the insistence on the blocking by escrow agreement rather than blocking by the Bolivian Government.